Air Force Realigns B-1 Bombers Under Global Strike Command

The Air Force moved its B-1 bombers from Air Combat Command to Global Strike Command in an effort to organize its entire bomber fleet under one command, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James announced Monday.

Air Force leaders also placed it next generation bomber project, the Long Range Strike Bomber (LRSB), under Global Strike Command, service officials said.

"This realignment places all three Air Force bombers under one command and brings the LRS-B program with it," James said in a statement. "Consolidating all of our Air Force assets in this critical mission area under a single command will help provide a unified voice to maintain the high standards necessary in stewardship of our nation's bomber forces."

"We expect the transfer to be imperceptible to the majority of airmen at Dyess and Ellsworth as they will continue to work for the same supervisors and units," Lt. Gen. Stephen Wilson, head of Air Force Global Strike Command, said in a statement.

Air Force Global Strike Command was stood up in 2009 to organize nuclear forces under one command. The recommendation for the move followed a litany of problems discovered in the Air Force's nuclear enterprise the previous two years.